


Strange Journey

by perfect_plan



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Meet-Cute, Speed Dating, random encounter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:02:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfect_plan/pseuds/perfect_plan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is stuck on a long train journey from Boston to New York and can't help but find the guy he's eavesdropping in on more than a little intriguing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Journey

Bucky huffed out a breath and looked at his watch. Only an hour to go before he was home and he could get out of this suit, have a shower and flop down in front of Netflix. He loved going to Boston for work but the ten hour round trip on the train always killed him. This jaunt had been totally worth it though. He flipped through the papers in front of him, more pleased with how the day had turned out than he could have imagined. He had officially just bought three very nice apartments in Boston, with offers made on five more, ready to expand his already-successful New York real estate business. He had called Bruce and given him the good news, simultaneously offering him the job as head of the Boston office which Bruce had accepted straight away. Now he could be closer to Betty and Bucky couldn't think of anyone else he'd want running things for him there. Bruce would do a great job. He felt a swell of pride that he'd come this far; he worked hard enough for it. Maybe now he wouldn't need to travel so much, for a little while at least; he didn't _hate_ it but the hours were long and trains and planes just exhausted him. It didn't leave much room for socialising either and he'd kind of fallen out of the whole dating loop.

At least the four hours he'd been on this train so far hadn't been completely unbearable though; he'd spent most of it eavesdropping in on the couple sat a few seats across from him. He was on a table seat facing backwards and he could just see the red-head - her back against the window, legs stretched out over both seats - as she spoke to the guy sat behind her. Bucky couldn't see him but he'd been amused by their endless pleasant prattle about movies and books and life in general. Usually he found other people's slightly-too-loud train conversations irritating but the couple were pretty funny and Bucky had been really getting into listening to their banter. They didn't seem like a _couple_ couple. More like good friends. The guy especially sounded nice - kind of self-deprecating and, well, cute, Bucky wasn't going to lie. He'd never been so intrigued by someone just by listening to them. In the four hours he'd been overhearing the two of them talk, he learned that Cute Guy (he hadn't been able to catch a name) was about the same age as him and was some kind of designer? Maybe? He liked sci-fi movies and books (Bucky liked sci-fi movies and books), he kept talking about how much he wanted to get Japanese food when he and the red-head got back into New York (Bucky loved Japanese food) and he was into classical music (Bucky had never been a _huge_ fan of classical music but he was willing to give it another go).

"Look, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't pigeon-hole yourself into this _one_ area," Red Head said through the seat to Cute Guy. "You're awesome at what you do but you've got so many other ideas, why not just pitch them another series? You've got more than enough books under your belt with them to have _some_ kind of sway."

Bucky looked down intently at his notebook, pretending that he was writing something but he just scribbled a few smiley faces. Okay, so Cute Guy _was_ a designer or something.

"I know," Cute Guy said, "I'm just worried that they might think I'm being too pushy? They kind of like that I just get on with my work. Some of the other authors and illustrators are total divas and they like that I'm laid back."

Red Head snorted. "They're not going to suddenly throw you out of the window if you say "Hey, I've got a great idea for another potentially successful kid's book series". They'll be all over it like flies on shit. You're like the biggest piece of artistic shit that all the publishing flies should want."

Bucky bit down on his lip to hold back a smile and Cute Guy laughed. It was a _really_ great laugh; loud and genuine.

"Gee, thanks. I think. I was so nervous about today that I kind of forgot to mention that I had more ideas." Cute Guy sighed.

Red Head shifted in her seat. "Well, it went fine, more than fine. There was really no need to get all worked up."

"I know. Thanks for coming with me. I really appreciate it." Cute Guy sounded embarrassed.

"Not a big thing. You just need to get out more. I know you're a workaholic and all but I'm steadily worrying about the day I come over to your place and catch you having a tea party with your household appliances and cleaning goods."

"Hey, those are _dinner_ parties and I'll have you know that my mop has some very valid opinions on the economic situation in Europe," Cute Guy said, completely serious. Bucky was finding it harder to hold back his grin and ducked his head down.

Red Head sniggered. "Yeah, I bet your Dustbuster could give me some good tips for the stock exchange."

"That jerk? He _wishes_ he could come to my dinner parties."

Bucky snorked out a laugh then and immediately clamped his mouth shut. He glanced up and Red Head was looking over at him, a frown on her face. He could feel himself turn pink and quickly looked down at his notebook, flipping over the page. Cute Guy must not have heard him because now he was chatting away about something else. Bucky looked up again and Red Head was still giving him a dirty look. _I know you've been listening to us_ , she seemed to be saying with silent intensity. He quickly scrawled on his notebook with a Sharpie and held it up.

**I'm sorry - I'm not a creeper. You guys are really funny and it's been a long day.**

Red Head's face softened slightly when she read it and looked amused. Maybe. He couldn't quite tell. Oh, what the hell, he thought and wrote again.

**He sounds cute.**

Bucky had no idea if he was barking up the wrong tree but the worst that could happen was that she'd get weirded out, he'd look out of the window for the rest of the journey, get off of the train and never have to see her again and just feel slightly mortified by this whole situation and get on with his life.

But Red Head's mouth suddenly quirked up in a tiny, _tiny_ grin and she raised an eyebrow. He wrote again.

**I'm not a serial killer, I promise.**

She gave him an intense once-over, eyes flitting across his suit (it was a very nice suit) and his trendy leather work satchel. She eyed him a moment longer and seemed to come to a decision. She turned her attention back to Cute Guy and when she spoke to him her voice was slightly louder than it had been before.

"So Steve," Red Head said and glanced briefly at Bucky, "are you still going to that speed-dating thing on Friday?"

Okay, this was good; his name was Steve, he was obviously single and Bucky was _not_ barking up the wrong tree. He still had no idea what said tree _looked_ like, but he kind of knew enough now from the four hours that he'd been listening to him that he didn't think he really cared. Bucky sat back in his seat and gave Red Head a little smile.

"Eh, I don't know. I'm kind of losing my nerve the closer it gets. It seemed like a good idea when it was far away but now..." Steve sounded kind of dejected.

Red Head groaned. "Oh, dude. Don't give up before you've already tried. You never know, you might meet someone awesome. You know, tall, dark, handsome..." She gave Bucky a full-on grin then and he folded his arms and grinned back. "Rich, maybe..." He could hear the implied question in her voice and scribbled in his notebook again.

**I do okay for myself. Real estate. I own a few buildings.**

Red Head gave him an approving little nod - just the tiniest little tilt of her head. "Someone who can appreciate a talented artist who doesn't get out much with _terrible_ taste in movies..."

"Hey! My taste in movies is great. You're the _only_ person I've ever met who doesn't like The Terminator. Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Steve sounded genuinely offended.

Bucky's stomach flipped slightly and he held up his notebook again.

**HOLY SHIT that's my favourite movie.**

Red Head rolled her eyes. "Okay, so maybe if you give this speed-dating thing a try, you'll meet a guy with the same terrible taste in movies that you have."

Steve laughed but this time there was little humour in it. "Yeah, I'm sure I'll be the belle of the speed-dating ball."

"Look, you just need to go for it. You're too down on yourself and you really have no need to be. You're handsome and talented and I'm sure there's a guy out there that will see that and want to have super-hot sex with you. Someone who's _sensational_ in the sack." She gave Bucky a sly sideways glance.

Steve hissed and sounded horrified. "Natasha! Jeez, keep it down..."

Bucky glared at Red Head - Natasha - and hastily scrawled on his notepad again.

**Great. No pressure then. Thanks.**

Natasha threw back her head and laughed. She was good, Bucky had to admit. Steve hadn't clocked onto the fact that she was talking to two people at the same time and was potentially setting him up with someone. Bucky may have thought that this was all kind of strange at any other time, but he was enjoying himself. This wasn't the sort of thing that just happened in real life, especially not to him and he actually really wanted to see how far they could go with it. He knew that he could just be an adult and stand up and _see_ Steve, maybe even walk over and ask him out straight off the bat, but he got the feeling that he was the kind of guy who wouldn't be comfortable with that and he really didn't want to scare him off. He gave himself a small mental slap. Yeah, this was _much_ more mature.

"Oh, lighten up. Just go speed-dating, see what happens and then you never have to go ever again if you don't want to." Natasha raised a leg and rested her elbow on one knee. "Who knows - maybe you won't _have_ to."

Bucky smiled and wrote, then held up his notebook again.

**A boy can dream.**

"Yeah, a boy can dream," Steve said with a wistful little laugh and Natasha threw a wide-eyed look over to Bucky, her mouth dropping open slightly in a surprised grin. She leaned back out of Steve's eye-line for a second and mouthed "no way" at him. Bucky was equally as surprised (and a little excited, despite himself) but shrugged, holding up his notebook again.

**That doesn't mean anything...**

Natasha leaned forward. "So where are you going for this thing to meet the man of your dreams?"

"Um, some bar in Lower Manhattan. Fury's."

Natasha watched as Bucky wrote it down - he could look up what time the event started when he got home. He couldn't quite believe that he was actually considering going. "Hmm. Lower Manhattan isn't too far from Brooklyn. Shouldn't take you long."

Bucky gave her a what-the-fuck frown.

**Uh yeah, I live in** **Brooklyn** **too.**

Natasha gave him a "really?" tilt of her head and then held out her hand. _Well, there you go_ , she seemed to be saying. Bucky wasn't a big believer in destiny and coincidence and all of that crap but this was kind of cool. He had to meet this guy now. He glanced a his watch as they started to pass familiar stations. In all the excitement of this whole thing, he'd forgotten that he needed to actually get off of the train at some point. Natasha noticed and turned to Steve again.

"How many more stops until we get off?"

"Um, four," Steve said and Bucky could hear him shuffling about in his bag. Bucky fist-pumped in his mind. He'd be able to see Steve, finally, as he got off of the train.

**I get off in five.**

Natasha smiled and turned back to Steve and didn't acknowledge Bucky for the rest of the journey. "Cool. Can we stop by Yasha's? I want to pick up some golubtzy."

After a little while, they started to gather their belongings. Natasha got up from her seat with a stretch and glanced over at Bucky, giving him a tiny eyebrow flick. He swallowed nervously (why the fuck was he nervous? This wasn't even anything. Yet. Maybe. Hopefully). Steve finally stood up and Bucky tried not to make a noise; he was _gorgeous_. Tall, blond hair, amazing blue eyes. He was kind of lanky but in a good way and his plaid shirt and v-neck sweater combo looked smart but kind of geeky at the same time and Bucky was gone. Yeah, he knew what he was doing Friday night.

Steve reached up and pulled a portfolio and a jacket down from the overhead rack, handing the jacket to Natasha with a smile. Bucky scooched lower in his seat. Oh man, that _smile_.

"Thank you, Mr Rogers," Natasha said and gave Bucky a grin as she passed him by and headed down the carriage. Steve Rogers. Okay. God, he felt like a total creep now. But Natasha had been feeding him info on Steve and he got a good vibe from her; he was sure she wasn't the kind of person to do something mean to her friend. He certainly hadn't intended any of this to be mean and he thought she knew that. He tried not to look up at Steve as he followed her down the carriage but failed. Steve was looking straight ahead though so he didn't notice the fawning mess in the business suit staring at him. Bucky let out a breath as soon as Steve was out of sight and rubbed his face. This was _ridiculous_.

The train stopped and people started to get off. Steve and Natasha walked by his window as they headed off along the platform and Natasha turned around to him quickly with an unmistakable hand gesture. _The ball's in your court now_.

***

For the next couple of days, all Bucky could think about was Steve and seeing him at speed-dating on Friday. He was definitely going; he had made up his mind and signed up online. He told himself over and over that this probably wouldn't lead to anything, Steve might not even turn up and if he did, there was certainly no guarantee that he'd be interested in Bucky. But he hadn't been this excited by a potential (don't get your hopes up, keep it vague) date for a _long_ time and the whole train thing had been so odd and kind of awesome, even though he hadn't actually made any contact with Steve whatsoever.

Friday finally rolled around and Bucky found himself nervously adjusting his short brown hair in the bathroom mirror. Did he look okay? He hadn't been sure whether to go for uber-smart or casual and had ended up somewhere in-between - jeans, a black shirt and his navy-blue pea coat. The navy of the coat brought out the blue in his eyes and he _thought_ he looked okay. He groaned at himself in the mirror and almost came close to blowing the whole thing off but took a deep breath and headed out of his apartment before he could change his mind.

I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought to himself as he walked to the subway station.

***

The bar was busy when Bucky arrived and he signed in at the door. It looked like the whole place at been hired out for this event and he was suddenly a lot more hesitant about this than he'd been all week. If Steve didn't show up then he was stuck here for two hours talking to a bunch of guys he would be polite to but not particularly interested in. Bucky took the name tag he was given and headed over to the bar to get a drink and calm himself down. He ordered a beer and positioned himself near the corner of the room so he could scan his surroundings. He was already getting a lot of interested looks, which gave him a slight confidence boost, but which he pointedly ignored. After fifteen minutes he still hadn't spotted Steve; he was near the door so he couldn't have missed him if he came in and he chugged his beer down, ready to call it a night and trying not to feel too disappointed. Bucky pushed away from the bar, ready to sneak out before they started to call the groups and that's when he spotted him.

Steve was standing at the other end of the bar, awkwardly holding his own beer and looking like he had no idea what to do. Bucky blinked a couple of times. He was even cuter than he remembered. He was wearing a similar outfit to what he'd been wearing on the train and his shirt tails were hanging out slightly unevenly from under his sweater. Bucky tried to hold back a smile as he watched Steve trying to surreptitiously tidy his hair every two minutes.

"Okay gents," a neat guy in a suit clapped a few times and the din in the bar died down. Bucky straightened up and tried to mentally prepare himself. Steve looked terrified.

"I'm Phil and I'll be your co-ordinator for this evening. We're going to split you into two groups; group one will remain at their tables, while group two will move from table to table. You have five minutes with each person so make an impression and don't forget to write down on your connect forms who you'd like to give your contact details to. Okay, let's get started. For group one can I have..." He started to read out a list of names.

Please let us be in different groups, Bucky thought. If he was in the same group as Steve, there was a chance they might not even get to talk and then Bucky had no way of getting in touch with him other than chasing him out of the bar and admitting that his friend had helped to stalk him on the train and no, that wasn't an option. Bucky crossed his fingers. He heard his name being called for group one and held his breath. Phil finished reading and Bucky let out the breath with relief. Steve was in group two.

Okay, this was a thing that was happening.

***

If the last couple of days had crawled by, it was _nothing_ compared to how slowly the last 30 minutes had been going. Bucky had talked to six guys already and he could see Steve edging closer each time the buzzer went off, signalling everyone in group two to move across a table. He was now at the table next to Bucky's, listening with confusion to one of the other guys in group one, Peter, talking a mile a minute about nothing Bucky could understand. He still looked nervous but slightly less terrified than he had been at the bar and Bucky wondered how many guys he'd marked down to get contact details from. Bucky tried to focus on the guy in front of him - some meat-head called Brock who liked the sound of his own voice a little too much - and just nodded at everything he said, waiting for the buzzer.

Finally, _finally_ , the buzzer went off and Bucky sat up straighter, watched Brock as he left the table and smiled as Steve slid into the seat opposite him. Steve smiled back and Bucky's brain decided to vacate the premises.

"Hello. Hi. Uh hello, I'm James." He held out his hand and Steve shook it. He had very nice hands.

Steve looked confused. "Your name tag says Bucky."

"What? Oh, yeah. I mean no, my name is James but I actually prefer Bucky. It's a nickname. I don't know why I said James. Just..." He looked down at the table and tried to gather himself. Fucking. Moron. He looked up and smiled. "I'm Bucky. Nice to meet you."

Steve laughed but not unkindly and Bucky could have crawled under the table right then and there. "I'm Steve. Hi."

***

He was a bumbling mess for the whole five minutes, trying to get Steve to talk so he couldn't make more of an idiot out of himself than he already had; Steve was a children's book writer and illustrator and produced a popular series of books for reluctant readers. Bucky recalled the conversation he'd overheard Steve and Natasha have on the train and realised that he must have been in Boston to see his publisher. He listened with interest and found himself liking Steve even more, if that was possible; he was funny, modest and just incredibly sweet and Bucky was pretty sure he was in love. Well, maybe not love but in a lot of like. A very lot of like. He was close to devastated when the time was up and he thought that Steve hesitated slightly before moving on, but maybe that was wishful thinking on Bucky's part.

"Bye, Bucky-James," Steve said with a grin as he moved away and Bucky tried not to look _too_ disinterested when the next guy sat down.

Steve was the only person he marked down on his connect form.

***

Bucky opened the email from the speed-dating company on Saturday morning and was surprised to see that he had several requests for contact details, but there was only one name he was interested in.

And he was there. On the list. Steve Rogers.

Bucky replied to the email as quickly as he could and within two hours he had Steve's cell phone number. Bucky was suddenly aware of how bizarre this all was, how completely out of character this was for him. He didn't usually react this way to random strangers. He certainly didn't follow them to speed-dating events. Was he a stalker? Was this how becoming a stalker started? But Steve's friend had helped him, kind of. Oh god, he'd worked too hard these last few years, let his social skills slip into oblivion and now he'd completely lost it.

Bucky spent an hour trying to convince himself that he wasn't a complete and utter loser. He sat on Steve's number for another four hours before he finally worked up the courage to call, his throat almost closing up as someone answered.

"Hello?" It was a woman's voice.

"Oh...I...hello. Is this Steve's phone? Steve Rogers?"

"Yes. Steve's stepped out for a few minutes. Can I ask who's calling?" He thought he recognised the voice.

"Um, this is Bucky, from the train the other day. Is this Natasha?"

There was a delighted laugh from the other end. "Oh, _hello_ there, mystery man. I wondered if we'd ever get the chance to talk again. I'm going to assume that you went on the speed-dating thing because Steve has been blabbing non-stop about this one guy he met and I'm also going to assume that it was you because I'm pretty sure that Bucky isn't a common name."

"I guess so," Bucky said. "I mean, I hope so." Steve had been _blabbing_ about him.

"Okay, listen," Natasha's voice was suddenly very serious and business-like. "I may have had a moment of weakness on the train the other day by encouraging you the way I did; I was very excited that a hot guy thought my friend was cute and I just want him to be happy because he deserves it. Like, he _hella_ deserves it. So I just want you to know, that if you're calling Steve to pursue something further with him, then you have my blessing. But if you hurt him, I will _end_ you."

"I...what?" Bucky wasn't quite sure he'd heard what he thought he'd heard.

"You heard me. I'm not even joking. I'm Russian and we're fiercely loyal to our friends. So if you hurt Steve, I _will_ come after you and hurt you back and _not_ emotionally. But don't let that put you off."

Bucky barked out a laugh. "Um, okay? Look, I know this is all really weird, believe me, I don't do things like this. Ever. I own a real estate business - my name is James Barnes if you want to check up on me - and I'm really not even all that interesting or exciting but...I just kind of liked Steve from the moment I heard his voice on the train and I'd like to get to know him better. I haven't been on a _date_ date for a long while and I'm nervous as hell about this whole thing but I'd like to think that you have good enough judgement to know if I'm being sincere or not. You seemed to think so on the train the other day."

There was a moment of silence on the other end and Bucky was starting to think that she'd hung up and he was listening to nothing when she spoke again. "Okay. I _am_ a good judge of character. Steve will tell you that. You seem like a massive dork and Steve is a _huge_ dork so you're probably made for each other."

Bucky laughed then, relieved but still nervous. "So, when will Steve be back?"

"He just went to get us pizza and beer. He'll be like fifteen minutes, tops."

"Will he be mad that you answered his phone and gave me the third degree?"

Natasha snorted. "Oh, he'll never know that this call even happened." And then she hung up on him.

***

"So, you were the only person I put down on my connect form the other night," Steve said shyly, stirring cream into his coffee.

Bucky couldn't help the huge grin that spread across his face. "Really?"

They were in a coffee shop a couple of days later after Bucky had finally called Steve (again) and asked him if he'd like to meet up. Steve had sounded flustered and excited which had made _Bucky_ flustered and excited too but now they were sitting and drinking coffee and just...getting on really well.

Steve glanced up at him, his blue eyes mischievous. "Yeah. I liked how you didn't know what your own name was."

Bucky laughed. "I was really nervous, okay? I'm not the smoothest of guys at the best of times."

"I don't know, you seem pretty smooth to me," Steve said.

Bucky looked down at his own coffee which he drank black. "Well, you were the only guy I put on my connect form too. I took one look at you in the bar and thought, "That's the only guy I want to talk to tonight." It was hell having to sit through six other dudes that I had no interest in speaking to." He wasn't quite ready to mention the train journey yet.

Steve grinned at him, managing to look pleased and embarrassed at the same time. "Wow. I didn't realise I made that much of an impression."

"Well, you made me forget my own name. So yeah," Bucky said and Steve laughed.

***

They were at the zoo a week later watching the meerkats when Bucky leaned over and kissed Steve and he knew he was in trouble because he was pretty sure that was all he ever wanted to do from now on. Luckily for him, Steve didn't seem to have a problem with that. They went back to Steve's cluttered apartment for dinner and he showed Bucky his work which was _really_ good. They ended up in a tangle of limbs on the couch for the rest of the evening, making out like teenagers and laughing like idiots.

***

Two months later, they were in Bucky's apartment, sprawled out naked on his bed, tired and sweaty, Steve nuzzling into Bucky's neck and making him giggle.

"And to think I almost didn't go to that stupid speed-dating thing," Steve said as he ran a hand down Bucky's chest and drew patterns on his stomach.

Before Bucky could reel it back in, he said," Um, I have a confession to make."

Steve propped himself up on his elbow and smiled lazily at him. "Is it a sexy confession?"

"It's a weird confession." He watched Steve's face suddenly crease in worry and back-peddled. "No, I mean _good_ weird, hopefully."

"Okay?" Steve said and waited.

"Uh, the speed-dating thing wasn't the first time we actually met."

Steve frowned and looked like he was flipping through a mental rolodex. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered meeting you before..."

Bucky smiled nervously. "Yeah, that's the weird part." He told Steve about the train journey back from Boston and the strange three-way conversation he hadn't realized he'd been a part of. Bucky watched as Steve's eyes grew wider the more he explained and he suddenly wished he hadn't said anything. Steve was quiet when he finished.

"Are you mad?" Bucky finally asked.

Steve looked down at him and the ghost of a smile played on his lips. "So, you're telling me that you fell madly in love with me just from _listening_ to me on a five-hour train ride?"

Bucky rolled onto his side and kissed Steve softly. "No, I was attracted to you on the train. I fell in love with you when you drew me that awesome picture of Kyle Reese and then took off all of your clothes and had sex with me."

Steve laughed and gently ran his hand through Bucky's hair. "Well, you did tell me that he was your first big crush."

"So you're not angry or weirded out? By the whole train thing?"

Steve shook his head. "I wouldn't be here right now otherwise, so no. Natasha was right when she said you were tall, dark, handsome and the man of my dreams." He started to kiss Bucky's neck.

"She also said that she'd end me if I hurt you..."

He could feel Steve smile against his skin. "Then I guess you're going to have to be _really_ good to me, aren't you?"

Bucky thought he could do that.

**Author's Note:**

> Just an attempt at a short fic between writing my longer stuff. Hope you like it!


End file.
